Beige G3 not booting from CD!

[Manuel Marques]

Hello all,

I recently got a PowerMac G3 desktop (the "Gossamer" model). It came
with Mac OS 8.0 installed (using a system enabler, so I believe it is
the stock operating system), and I wanted to upgrade it to Mac OS 9.2
(it already has 96 MB of RAM in it, so it will work fine!).

The problem is that I can't make it to boot with the OS 9 CD I have
here. I've tried booting with the "C" key pressed, and I've tried to
manually select the CD in the startup disk control panel (the disk
shows on the desktop, and it is browsable, so I believe the CD-ROM
drive is good.).

It came with a dead PRAM battery, and I've replaced with a good one. I
also reseted the PRAM, and even tried to boot with a OS 8 CD, but
nothing, the machine won't boot at all from the CD! It keeps booting
from the internal disk.

What can I do about it? Should I use an external SCSI drive?

I hope this Power Mac is old enough to be on this list... after all,
it is beige! :)

Regards,
Manuel Marques
(http://babylonlc.no-ip.org:8080)

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[Ken Daggett]

On 4 May 2010, at 06:57:00 PDT, Manuel Marques wrote:

> The problem is that I can't make it to boot with the OS 9 CD I have
> here.

--------------
Try the <g3-5...@googlegroups.com> for better info as this list
is intended for pre-PCI type powermacs.

That said, what CD are you using? System specific or retail?

Ken
http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gt1w/stackomacs

[Manuel Marques]

I managed to narrow the problem to the CD I was using... I had a 8.1
and a 9 bootable disks and neither one would boot the PowerMac. But
then I tried a Panther CD (which, of course, does not support this
model). It booted right up, until it generated a kernel panic (it
couldn't find the cpu type based on the model reference). I eventually
got another OS 9 CD which worked perfectly :P.

Oh well, at least I got to know the innards of the machine, which is
really well designed, by the way! :)

MM

On May 4, 4:31 pm, Ken Daggett <kadagg...@verizon.net> wrote:
> On 4 May 2010, at 06:57:00 PDT, Manuel Marques wrote:
>
> > The problem is that I can't make it to boot with the OS 9 CD I have
> > here.
>
> --------------
> Try the <g3-5...@googlegroups.com> for better info as this list
> is intended for pre-PCI type powermacs.
>
> That said, what CD are you using? System specific or retail?
>

> Kenhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res7gt1w/stackomacs

>
> --
> You received this message because you are a member of 1st-PowerMacs, a group for pre-PCI Power Macs and clones.
> To post to this group, send email to 1st-po...@googlegroups.com
> To leave this group, send email to 1st-powermac...@googlegroups.com

> For more information, read the list FAQ athttp://lowendmac.com/lists/1st-powermacs.shtmland visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/1st-powermacs

[Clark Martin]

On 5/5/10 1:18 AM, Manuel Marques wrote:
> I managed to narrow the problem to the CD I was using... I had a 8.1
> and a 9 bootable disks and neither one would boot the PowerMac. But
> then I tried a Panther CD (which, of course, does not support this
> model). It booted right up, until it generated a kernel panic (it
> couldn't find the cpu type based on the model reference). I eventually
> got another OS 9 CD which worked perfectly :P.
>
> Oh well, at least I got to know the innards of the machine, which is
> really well designed, by the way! :)
>

You might want to clean the CD-ROM drive and the CDs. One or both might
be dirty enough that just certain combos will still work.

--
Clark Martin
Redwood City, CA, USA
Macintosh / Internet Consulting

"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"

[Manuel Marques]

But I don't think the problem was on the CD or the drive, as the disks
showed perfectly on the Mac's desktop. And I've tried another CD
drive, with the same results... I recall that the OS 8 CD was
bootable, but for some strange reason it won't boot on this G3... (if
it lacked an enabler, it should warn me, right? When I got the
computer, it came with OS 8.0 and a system enabler...)

MM

On May 5, 9:21 pm, Clark Martin <cm...@sonic.net> wrote:
> On 5/5/10 1:18 AM, Manuel Marques wrote:
>
> > I managed to narrow the problem to the CD I was using... I had a 8.1
> > and a 9 bootable disks and neither one would boot the PowerMac. But
> > then I tried a Panther CD (which, of course, does not support this
> > model). It booted right up, until it generated a kernel panic (it
> > couldn't find the cpu type based on the model reference). I eventually
> > got another OS 9 CD which worked perfectly :P.
>
> > Oh well, at least I got to know the innards of the machine, which is
> > really well designed, by the way! :)
>
> You might want to clean the CD-ROM drive and the CDs.  One or both might
> be dirty enough that just certain combos will still work.
>
> --
> Clark Martin
> Redwood City, CA, USA
> Macintosh / Internet Consulting
>
> "I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"
>
> --
> You received this message because you are a member of 1st-PowerMacs, a group for pre-PCI Power Macs and clones.
> To post to this group, send email to 1st-po...@googlegroups.com
> To leave this group, send email to 1st-powermac...@googlegroups.com

> For more information, read the list FAQ athttp://lowendmac.com/lists/1st-powermacs.shtmland visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/1st-powermacs